By John Coon
Associated Press
PROVO, Utah — Jaxson Robinson scored 21 points off the bench to lead No. 19 BYU to a 90-88 victory over UCF on Tuesday night.
Noah Waterman added 17 points and nine rebounds as the Cougars (18-6, 6-5 Big 12) won for the fourth time in five games. Trevin Knell also scored 17 and Dallin Hall had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.
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Darius Johnson led the Knights with 20 points. Jaylin Sellers added 17 and Nils Machowski chipped in with 11. UCF (13-10, 4-7) trailed the entire way despite scoring 27 points off 17 BYU turnovers and shooting 51% from the field.
BYU built a 19-point lead early in the second half before UCF forced six turnovers in just three minutes to get back in the game. Allen and Marchelus Avery punctuated a 12-0 run with back-to-back dunks off steals that trimmed the deficit to 48-41. The Knights scored six straight baskets to seriously threaten BYU’s lead.
BYU temporarily stopped the rally from going further and regained a double-digit advantage with three straight baskets from Hall and Richie Saunders.
UCF made four 3-pointers in the final minute — highlighted by consecutive jumpers from Machowski — to cut the deficit to 88-86 with 11.2 seconds left. Robinson made eight free throws in the final minute to help BYU escape with a win.
The teams combined for 113 second-half points.
Knell made a pair of baskets and hit three free throws to help BYU score the game’s first 10 points. UCF missed its first five shots and committed three turnovers before finally getting on the board five minutes into the first half.
The Knights rallied after holding the Cougars to a single basket over a 7 1/2-minute stretch. C.J. Walker and Omar Payne threw down back-to-back dunks to punctuate a 12-2 run that cut BYU’s lead to 28-24.
The Knights were unable to draw closer before halftime. Robinson converted a four-point play to push BYU’s lead back to double digits and then drained a second corner 3 to put the Cougars up 39-26 going into the locker room.
Big picture
UCF started slow for a second straight game, forcing the Knights to battle back from an early double-digit deficit multiple times before ultimately falling short in their quest for a second Big 12 road win.
BYU showed tremendous improvement from the free-throw line and it was a difference maker against UCF’s tenacious defense. The Cougars went 40 of 46 after shooting just 10 for 21 against Kansas State two days earlier.
UCF hosts Cincinnati on Saturday while BYU visits Oklahoma State.